Refrigerator or freezer cabinet

ABSTRACT

At a refrigerator or freezer cabinet ( 10 ) with a space for storing goods, an evaporator ( 38 ) extends along the rear wall ( 18 ) of the cabinet and confines in sidewards direction a chamber ( 52 ), which is also confined by the rear wall ( 18 ) and an intermediate wall ( 44 ) arranged in front of the rear wall. An opening ( 54 ) is arranged in the intermediate wall ( 44 ), through which opening an impeller ( 56 ) sucks in air from the space and blows the air out into the chamber ( 52 ), the cross sectional area of which decreasing in vertical direction so that the air is evenly distributed along the evaporator ( 38 ) before the air in sidewards direction passes through the evaporator out into the space along the rear wall, from where the air circulates further on through the space between shelves located therein back to the opening ( 54 ).

This application claims the benefit of International Application NumberPCT/SE01/01695, which was published in English on Feb. 14, 2002.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention refers to a refrigerator or freezer cabinet with a spacefor goods, which space is confined by a rear wall, two side walls, a topwall, a bottom wall and a door, an element for refrigerating aircirculated through the element by an impeller of a fan, which air iscirculated further on through the space in order to thereby refrigeratethe goods.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to, at such a cabinet, bring about aneven distribution of the air flowing through the space for refrigeratingthe goods simultaneously as the means for achieving the circulation ofair take a minimum of space.

This object is reached by the cabinet according to the invention therebythat the element extends along the rear wall and confines in sidewardsdirection a chamber, which is furthermore confined by the rear wall andan intermediate wall arranged in front of the rear wall, an openingbeing arranged in the intermediate wall and the impeller sucking in airfrom the space through the opening, from where the impeller blows theair out into the chamber, the cross sectional area of which decreasingin vertical direction so that the air is evenly distributed along theelement before it in sidewards direction passes through the element outinto the space along the rear wall, from where the air circulatesfurther on through the space between shelves located therein back to theopening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of a refrigerator or freezer cabinet according to theinvention are described below in connexion with the enclosed drawing, inwhich

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a cabinet with the door removed and withshelves and an intermediate wall, which covers an evaporator,

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view according to the marking II—II in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view according to the marking III—III in FIG.1,

FIG. 4 shows the same view as FIG. 1 but with the shelves and theintermediate wall removed, and

FIG. 5 shows a variant of the embodiment according to FIGS. 1-4, theevaporator having V-shape.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIGS. 1-4 numeral 10 designates a refrigerator orfreezer cabinet constituted by an outer shell 12 of iron plate orplastic and an inner shell 14 of plastic, a heat insulation 16 being incustomary way arranged between the shells. The inner shell 14 has a rearwall 18, two side walls 20 and 22, respectively, a top wall 24 and abottom wall 26, behind which a room 28 is arranged for housing arefrigerating apparatus (not shown). Said walls enclose a space 29 witha plurality of shelves 30 for storing goods.

The rear wall 18 has a plane part 32 and a depressed part with a plane,rectangular bottom 34, which merges in the part 32 by means of a vaultedpart 36. A straight and long and narrow evaporator 38 constituted by atube 40 bent to U-shape and with flanges 42 is arranged diagonally onthe bottom 34. The evaporator 38 and the bottom 34 is covered by arectangular intermediate wall 44, which is parallel with the bottom 34and along three of its edges rests in a band-shaped depression 46 of thepart 32. Between the evaporator 38, the bottom 34, the intermediate wall44 and a vertical 48 and horizontal 50 part of the wall 18 thus awedge-shaped chamber 52 is formed, the cross sectional area of whichdecreasing in downwards direction. The intermediate wall 44 extendsabout 60% of the distance between the side walls 22 and 20,respectively.

The top part of the intermediate wall 44 has an opening 54, in which anelectrically driven impeller 56 of a fan is arranged to suck in air fromthe space 29 and blow the air out into the chamber 52, in which the airby the wedge-shape of the chamber in a way known per se in flow contextswill distribute evenly along the evaporator and after that flow insidewards direction through the evaporator with a flow which is evenlydistributed along the whole length of the evaporator and is directed outbetween the shelves 30 in the space 29 by the vaulted surface 36. Theair then flows towards the front edge of the respective shelf, here itturns off upwards and flows along a door 58 of the cabinet back to theopening 54.

The opening 54 can be located on different levels in the intermediatewall 44. At the embodiment according to FIG. 5 the opening 54A islocated at about half the height of the intermediate wall, the evendistribution of the air being brought about by the evaporator 38A havingbeen given the shape of a V, the point of which being located on levelwith the opening 54A.

The flow path of the air is in the figures shown with broken arrows.

1. Refrigerator or freezer cabinet (10) comprising: a space (29) forgoods, which space is confined by a rear wall (18), first and secondside walls (20 and 22), a top wall (24), a bottom wall (26) and a door(58); a chamber defined by the rear wall (18) and an intermediate wallarranged in front of the rear wall; an impeller (56) of a fan forcirculating air through the space (29); an element (38; 38A) forrefrigerating the air circulated through the element by the impeller(56) in order to thereby refrigerate the goods, wherein the element (38;38A) extends horizontally along the rear wall (18); a chamber (52)defined by the element (38; 38A), the rear wall (18) and an intermediatewall (44) arranged in front of the rear wall; an opening (54; 54A) inthe intermediate wall (44), wherein the impeller (56) sucks in air fromthe space (29) through the opening (54; 54A) and into the chamber (52);and shelves (30) located within the space; wherein the cross sectionalarea of the chamber decreases in a vertical direction so that the air isevenly distributed along the element (38; 38A) before passinghorizontally through the element out into the space (29) along the rearwall, then between the shelves (30), and then back to the opening (54).2. The cabinet according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate wall (44)is substantially parallel with the rear wall (18) and the element (38;38A) is covered by the intermediate wall (44).
 3. The cabinet accordingto claim 2, wherein the element (38) has a long and narrow shape and theopening (54) is located in an upper part of the intermediate wall (44).4. The cabinet according to claim 3, wherein the intermediate wall (44)extends about 60% of a distance between the first and second side walls(20 and 22).
 5. The cabinet according to claim 2, wherein the element(38A) has the shape of a V and the opening (54A) is located proximate toa point of said V.
 6. The cabinet according to claim 1, wherein theintermediate wall (44) has a substantially rectangular shape and extendsfrom the bottom wall (26) to the top wall (24) and from the second sidewall (22) towards the second side wall (20), so that the intermediatewall covers a part of the rear wall (18).